I don't disagree, but that isn't something Mux is in a position to do. They just provide video streaming infrastructure -- they're in no position to demand that various sports broadcast rightsholders change their policies.
But some of those people are also PAYING to watch plenty of games in whatever sport they are "pirating" streams for. Calling these people "pirates" fails to acknowledge that they are also "paying customers" who are frustrated with how complicated it has become to pay for the product they want to watch.
It’s analogous to bootlegging: buying a fake Gucci bag is not unethical; but producing one is.
Yep. Their entire business is illegal, so breaking a few more laws by signing up for CDN service with a stolen credit card is no big deal.
They (Mux) aren't doing that. The blog specifically talks about going after the people using their platform to distribute the streams, not the people trying to view them.
Having your service used to distribute pirated material is not good. Becomes a big liability, especially if you aren't proactive in trying to stop it.
The whole comment section is weird. Is people not realizing Mux has nothing to do with sports rights? They're just a streaming provider that gets misused and have to foot the bill when people use them to stream stuff illegally.
Gaben is right. Piracy is a service problem.
We had a shared-house discussion recently about this. Everyone put their hand up to pay for one streaming service, except for the people who said they'd prefer to pirate their video because it's so painful to pay for.
They did not do the same for music because it's unnecessary - everyone has their own Spotify/Apple subscription that gives them access to all the music.